Long Beach duo behind Disney's holiday water spectacular

When you’re the creative director of parades and spectaculars, you’re pretty much expected to think big. And Long Beach residents Steve Davison and Sayre Wiseman have certainly risen to the occasion.

On Nov. 15, the duo will unveil their latest spectacle, or spectacular, at Disney’s California Adventure with the “World of Color – Winter Dreams” holiday show. The new show builds off the groundbreaking technology and innovation of the “World of Color” show, which debuted in 2010 and uses water fountains, lights and lasers to tell a story on a massive football field-sized wall of water.

The “Winter Dreams” version uses the same technology but tells an entirely different story: a series of winter-themed tales.

“It’s always been the idea that (‘World of Color’) would grow and evolve over time,” said show creator Davison, noting that the original show has been incrementally changed six times since it was unveiled.

With Disney’s tradition of amping things up for the holidays, the “Winter Dreams” concept was a natural.

The show will feature Olaf, the snowman from the upcoming animated Disney movie “Frozen,” as the narrator and host.

Davison said when he first saw Olaf in the studio, “it was the most clever, cute, cuddly thing I’ve seen in a long time.”

With that, Davison and producer Wiseman were off and running. Drawing in technicians and animators from Pixar and people from various Disney departments, the approximately half-hour show began to come together.

It’s not easy hiding an extravaganza, but Wiseman says every night about an hour after the park closes, the trucks come in and “we’re painting until the sun comes up.”

In many ways, the “World of Color” is Disney product placement writ large, with movie characters past, present and even future cavorting across the wall of water. So, in “Winter Dreams” you will see “Toy Story” characters acting out a very different version of “The Nutcracker.”

And while some of that can be cynically seen as advertising, it is also what draws much of the audience.

And, really, can you have a winter Disney show without the classic “Bambi” snow scene?

Re-created animation notwithstanding, Davison and Wiseman see the show as much more than cobbled-together characters.

Davison said the sheer size and scope of the spectacle draws the audience into an immersive experience.

“We take colors and textures and treat them as actors,” Davison said.

“We wanted to create a dream-like palette with the water columns and the music to thread it together.”

It seems the only limits on what Davison can create are of the imagination. And budget.

Davison wouldn’t say how much it cost to create “Winter Dreams” other than it was “enough to make the magic right.”

The original “World of Color” show, which was part of a massive overhaul of the park in 2010, cost $75 million, according to The New York Times.

The show was part of “E-ticket entertainment” meant to draw visitors back to the parks.

When “World of Color” was created, Davison said colored fountains didn’t even exist. It was not known how or whether lasers would interact with the water or how movielike imagery would play.

Davison, who is also responsible for the nightly fireworks shows and has created Disney parades and shows from Europe to Asia, says he hopes “Winter Dreams” will become “a new tradition – something you come to see year after year.”

Davison is not done with using the “World of Color” technology or embarking on the “whole laundry list” of projects he’d like to undertake.

With “World of Color,” he says: “I’d love to do Halloween. It would really be a fun, fun one to do.”